1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a headphone with a cord winder device comprising a right-and-left pair of headphone assemblies accommodating in a respective right-and-left pair of headphone housings a respective right-and-left pair of small speakers for converting stereo audio signals from audio-video equipment into sound and a respective right-and-left pair of cord winder devices, one for winding up an input cord for connecting to the apparatus and the other for winding up a bridging cord for bridging a right-and-left pair of headphone housings.
2. Description of the Related Art
Typically, a headphone is composed of a pair of headphone assemblies configured in a way that stereo audio signals are inputted from audio video equipment such as an MD (Mini Disc) player, a portable CD (Compact Disc) player, and a portable LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) display device to one of a right-and-left pair of headphone housings through an input cord and to the other of the headphone housings through a bridging cord, thereby converting the stereo signals into stereo sound to convey to user's ears by small-sized speakers accommodated in a right-and-left pair of headphone housings. Many of such headphones widely available are of a clip-on type without a headband.
As an example of such a clip-on type headphone, there has been developed a headphone with a cord winder device, as seen in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Publication 2002-10385, wherein the input cord for connecting to audio-video equipment can be wound up into the cord winder device accommodated in a headphone housing and an input plug attached at the distal end of the input cord can be housed into the same headphone housing.
A headphone 100 with a cord winder device of the related art illustrated in FIGS. 1 through 3 is the headphone disclosed in the above patent publication, the headphone being explained briefly below in reference to the publication.
Firstly, the headphone 100 with a cord winder device comprises a right-and-left pair of headphone assemblies 101L, 101R that are configured substantially into a right-and-left symmetry in accordance with a user's right-and-left ears as shown in FIG. 1.
Specifically, the right-and-left pair of headphone assemblies 101L, 101R are configured by accommodating a pair of small speakers (not shown) symmetrically in a right-and-left pair of headphone housings 102L, 102R, which form the exterior of the headphone assemblies; accommodating a winder device (not shown) in only the left headphone housing 102L; and mounting a right-and-left pair of ear hooks 103L, 103R respectively on the outer surface of the right-and-left pair of headphone housings 102L, 102R.
When the headphone 100 with a cord winder device of the related art is put into use, the right-and-left headphone assemblies 101L, 101R are worn on the user's right and left ears with the right-and-left pair of ear hooks 103L, 103R, respectively.
The headphone assembly 101L is provided with an input cord 105 having at the distal end thereof an input plug 104 for electrically connecting to audio-video equipment. The input cord 105 can be wound up into the winder device (not shown) accommodated in the left headphone housing 102L. By plugging the input plug 104 into the audio-video equipment, stereo audio signals outputted from the equipment are inputted into the left headphone assembly 101L through the input cord 105. Then, audio signals for the left channel of the stereo signals inputted into the left headphone assembly 101L are converted to sound and conveyed toward the user's left ear by the small speaker (not shown) accommodated in the left headphone assembly 101L.
On the other hand, a bridging cord 106 is connected from the left headphone assembly 101L to the right headphone 101R. It is through the bridging cord 106 that audio signals for the right channel are transmitted to the right headphone 101R and then converted to sound and conveyed toward the user's right ear by the small speaker (not shown) accommodated in the right headphone housing 102R. The bridging cord 106 is provided slidably with a slider 107 for adjusting a loose length of the bridging cord 105 by bundling the cord 106 into a U-shape.
As stated above, when the headphone 100 with a cord winder device is in use, the input cord 105 provided in the left headphone assembly 101L is pulled out from the left headphone housing 102L and the input plug 104 attached at the distal end of the input cord 105 is plugged in the audio-video equipment, as shown in FIG. 2.
When the headphone 100 with a cord winder device is not in use, the input cord 105 provided in the left headphone assembly 101L is wound up into the left headphone housing 102L and the end of input plug 104 attached at the distal end of the input cord 105 is inserted into an accommodating hole of a projection portion 102La that is formed protrusively and integrally on the left headphone housing 102L, as shown in FIG. 3.
On the other hand, the bridging cord 106 is unwound and bundled in a U shape with the slider 107.
As explained, in the headphone 100 with a cord winder device, while the left headphone housing 102L accommodates a small speaker (not shown) for conveying left sound and the cord winder device (not shown) for winding up the input cord 105 for connecting to audio-video equipment, the right headphone housing 102R accommodates only a small speaker (not shown) for conveying right sound.
With this configuration, when the headphone 100 with a cord winder device is not in use, while the input cord 105 is wound up into the left headphone housing 102L, the bridging cord 106 remains unwound between the left and right headphone housings 102L, 102R as shown in FIG. 3. So, it is annoying for a user to handle the unwound bridging cord 106. Also, the unwound bridging cord 100 deteriorates the appearance of the headphone 100.
Furthermore, with the above configuration, since the right headphone housing 102R has a hollow space therein due to the absence of a cord winder device, whereas the left headphone housing 102L accommodates the device, the right headphone housing 102R exhibits different sound properties from those in the left headphone housing 102L. This is because part of the sound produced by the right speaker in the right headphone housing 102R reverberates differently from the sound produced by the left speaker in the left headphone housing 102L when the headphone 100 with a cord winder device is in use. So, such a configuration causes a problem in that the stereo audio signals cannot be converted into sound with balanced quality.
Therefore, there has been expected a headphone with cord winder devices in which an input cord for connecting to audio-video equipment can be wound up into one headphone assembly and a bridging cord between the headphone assemblies can be wound up into the other, thereby providing the balanced sound properties by accommodating both the small speaker and the cord winder device in each headphone assembly and thereby producing stereo sound with balanced quality.